


Empowered

by classicteacake



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Gratuitous Bro Beatup, John's Fucking Pissed, Strife - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 19:32:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classicteacake/pseuds/classicteacake
Summary: Sometimes, when you're used to something and you don't feel like you can speak up about it, you rely on someone else to help you find your breath.





	Empowered

**Author's Note:**

> hi i wrote this in like 20 minutes at 2am. enjoy

You’ve never seen John Egbert angry before.

You were taking a nap on your new Earth when, not for the first time, you turn up in a familiar place inside a dream bubble. You find your brother on your rooftop, looking like he was waiting for you. You think it’s a memory at first, but then he asks you what you’ve learned during the game. It’s your first time seeing him since he died, and the first thing he asks you to do is strife.

You say yes. It’s just what you two do, after all.

It goes like it always does. He gets the upper hand on you quickly, even with Caledfwlch. Fast, strong, bigger than you.

You don’t use your powers against him.

He lands quite a few blows on you. You shake them off. You stand up, again and again.

You don’t really have any motivation to beat him, and it’s obvious he can sense that. He gets harsher, less forgiving in the battle.

He knocks you down again. You feel numb.

As you move to get to your feet again, you hear a voice call out to stop the strife and it freezes you where you are. You see your blue pajama-clad friend descend onto the roof with you and your bro. The first thing he does is help you to your feet.

The next thing he does is turn to your bro and immediately start berating him. Your ears are still ringing from being beatdown, so you don’t manage to catch everything he says at first.

You do catch your brother’s response. “You wanna fight me in his place?”

“If it’ll get you to stop beating up your own god damn brother, then yes!”

You almost stop him from fighting your bro. Almost. Instead, you stand just as frozen as before, watching the entire scene play out. You know it’s a bad idea, but you can’t help but wonder if it’s a good idea, too.

John doesn’t hold back. He summons Vrillyhoo and is the first to strike. Your bro moves to block it like normal, but there’s a force behind the heir’s swings that catches him off-guard. He makes the mistake of using a single hand to try to defend and ends up being knocked off-balance. Something that you’ve rarely ever been able to do.

You recognize that if John can keep this up, the fight will be over extremely quickly.

Your bro corrects his mistake and continues to block the onslaught of attacks from your friend. He catches the head of the hammer with his katana and flings it out of John’s hands. Your breath catches in your throat. The next swing aims right for John’s side, and you prepare for the worst, clutching Caledfwlch readily.

The blade passes through him as though slicing through thin air.

You recognize this isn’t the first time John's had a battle like this.

John punches your bro in the face, making him recoil heavily. He doesn’t stop there. Abandoning his hammer, John pounces on your bro, yelling a war cry you never thought you’d hear from him, and begins wailing on him. You just stare.

It’s maybe the twelfth punch in that you find your voice again.

“Dude.”

John doesn’t pause.

“ _Dude._ "

There’s blood on his knuckles, on your bro’s face.

“ _John._ ”

Finally, your friend seems to snap to his senses. He lets your brother go and takes a few steps back, hardly looking winded at all. You’ve seen resolve in his eyes like that before, but never coated in such a seething anger.

“Will you stop fighting Dave already? All these strifes were stupid to begin with. You think you were ‘preparing’ him or whatever, but he was thirteen! _Less than thirteen!_ You think it’s a good fucking idea to kick around a _kid?_ ”

Your bro says nothing as John walks over to pick up his hammer.

“Maybe think about what’s good for other people for once, asshole.”

With that, he leaves. Zaps out to wake up, probably. You’re left with your bro, who now looks even worse than you.

He doesn’t look upset. Maybe numb, like how you felt until a few minutes ago. But now, you feel...

“Is that how you feel, too?”

You feel…

“Yeah.”

... _empowered_.


End file.
